Centrifugal amalgamator



Jung 5, 1923.l

1,457,560 H. c. TABl-:R

CENTRIFUGAL AMALGAMATOR Filedl May 9, 1922 INVENTOR.

#055397' C. m55/e.'

lax/@977mm A TTORNE Y.

' `Referring to the drawings:

Patented June 5, 1923,I y

nir a s es HUBERT `C. TABER, OF IiOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOROFONE-HALF T0 ARTHUR 1I. JONES, OF'LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, l

. cnN'rnIFUGAL AMALGAMATOB.. i

Application ined May sa,Y

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I,.IInnnn'r citizen o'f the United States, and residentof Los Angeles, California, have invented certain new and usefulyImprovements in VCentrifugal Amalgamators, o f `which the following isaspecification. Y My invention relates to the recovery of gold, silver,platinum,- iridium and other .precious metals from their ores or sand or.gangue, by the useof amalgamation with quicksilver, and the object,rst,is to pro'- vide a machine that will V'retain the quicksilveror-mercury, together with amalgam, 'besides the heavy particles ofAprecious .metals that separate out anddo not amalgamate; second, toprovide a'. machine that is a self-contained, complete amalgamatingunit;` third, to provide a machine in which 'the clean upof amalgam is.easily and quickly made; fourth, to provide a machine in which therunning parts, such as bearings, areprotectedfrom grit andl dust, f

Other objects will appear from the; following specification, and while Ihavegshown a particularly constructed machine as to shape and material,Ido not limit myself' to such, hecausechanges` mayv bemade withoutdeparting ,froml the essential elements ,l K y .l shape, is providedwith .a riinff21, which ex-Q, tends around the A plate. 4Thev-loaseplatej 2,3

constituting my invention.

v .Figurel is'anelevation lview in part cros's section ofl myinventiomand Figure 2 is a partial ure 1 on the' line A. I 4

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross section of a pocket at Bon Figure 1.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts inthe differentviews. l

In the drawings numeral 1 refers to an cross-section of Figirregularshaped cone. I purposely make this cone in waves as shown andinay haveany number of waves, `but I purposely use three,as shown. In order toobtain v the effect desired, I provide a smooth flowing surface on theinner sideof the cone, that is, there is no abrupt step or indentation vThepocketsh2 extend aroundgthe inner side of the cone and arepractically horizontal in position. mayl use any suitable number. Thepocket 2 hasan opening 3* as shown, l with lips or extensions 5 'and 6.The back '.of the pocket 4 andthe pocket itself are'. made practically.parallell 4to' the' vertical.

The reasonfor this will be later set forth.

C. TABER, a

provided with ,a

1922.; serial no. 559,607.

The kcone 1 isprovided vatits base, an outlet7, which isthreaded:torjanyl suitable plug or valve connection. lThe .cone 1 is alsoprovidedwithja large Lpocket; 8.' This pocket 8 has a number ofopenings,rectangu lar in shape, leading/from the innerside of the cone to thepocket represented .by nuymeral 9. Over these openings .9` I stretchastrip yof canvas or vfine screen. 10, which is held in placebythe metalstrip -11 at .the

lower edge, together with vthe screws I12,. At its upper edge, it isheldin place bythe metal strip. 13 andthe screws 14. All of.

these parts are put together to forni. a smooth flowing. surface..Thepocket Sfis y y y, plug at its base forclean uppurposes. c l

- The cone 1 ksets on the base llivvhichv is fastened to the-cone 4atthe flange@` 1G means` of studs 15. .Thefhasemember 14A,

v is provided with upper ball bearing 17 and lowerhall bearingl. y LAtthebase ofMA is a felt 'washer-.19,',which'rests`on the top ofthe hub orboss 2O.k 'lhilsieltwasher.L re- .K

-tains the oil inf-.thejbearingsland keeps the dust and dirt out.lThejboss r2Ois provided 4 with ya bearing metal '21' onfwhich shaftlThe base .plate ff23,".which`jvi`s,circular -in has openings, ,25, forhold down boltso'r` lag screws. Agn I extension orv boss 26 ,withvbjearing 27 supports and holds the standard 28.

The base plate 23 is slightly cup shaped and has anoutlet 57 withvalve"58"nsed` in cleaning up the mercuryy or'an'ialgamthat v`v iscaught by'means of the'rim 24,

The standard 28 is preferably l y maat-f hollow shafting or pipe and:has a rackl gear..

29 set in its side as shown.1.'Thisrack gear`l 29 connects up toa piniongear' 30,4 which-j. .d is surrounded and heldin place by; the

housing 31.l rlfhe? vhousin'gfvl has a'holerf32, as shown, for astandard 28. y

vthrough the housing 31 and f a1 cra-nl: 34' is attached to said shaft.IThe housingl isl provided with an indentation or slot y35, wedgeshaped, into which'the horn lorhoss *'boltl in clamping [same tothe;` Avsuitable sha-ft 33 entends yloa espy manetta,

n in the cone l.

form the arm 38 and the bearing 39. rI` he bearing 89 supports the shaft40. At the upper end of the shaft 40 is a suitable pulley 4l, and at thelower end is an agrtating propeller 42. lu inner cone 43 is pose tionedThis inner cene 48 has two or more ribs 44 that extend froni'the upperedge of the cone to the shaft to forni the hub 45. A set screw 46 isprovided in 'the hub 45, so that the inner cone may be fastened to theshaft 40. The inner cone has a curved lip or edge 47, as shown, whichextends down on the side of the cone l.

In order to propel the shaft 40'and the attached mechanism, I provide ashafting 48, which has a-suitable'pulley 49 above and pulley 50 below,The shafting` 48 is supported at its 'base by the bearing 5l, the flange52 of which, sets onand is fastened to the base plate 23. A set collar53 is provided as shown. At the upper end of the shaft 48 I provide abearing 54, which is bolted or riveted to the launder 55. The launder ismade circular in shape and extends around the lip or upper edge of thecone. At its lower end I provide a nipple 56, The circular launder 55has supporting legs 57A, four in number, which I preferably make of ironrods fastened by means of angle brackets to the launder and screwed tothe base plate 23.

A belt is provided for the pulleys 4l and 49 and another one for thepulley 5() and the base 14A. The cylinder base14A serves the purpose ofya pulley. The inner ring of bearings 17 andl8 isfastened to the stubshaft 22 vand the outer ring to thecylinder base 14A. The stub shaft 22is stationary in the bearing 2l. The bearings 17 and 18 serve bothradial and thrust purposes, and when the cone is revolved, the kactionis similar to the spinning cfa top, .the cone tends to assume thevertical position. Consequently, an up per bearing abovethe machine isnot'necessary.

theoperation of my invention, the driving jbelt isput on the cylinderbase 14A, another' belt from 14A to pulley 50, and a belt from pulley 49to pulley 4l. The beltl 'from 49 to 4l may be eitherdirect or halfturned, so that the cone 43 may be driven in either direction; that is,the same direction as cone l or opposite.

A suitable amount of mercury is fed into the cone l suliicient to lillthe pockets 2. The cone l is then revolved of suiicient speed to causethe mercury to rise and flow upward on the inside of the cone l and lillthe pockets 2.

The surface then of the mercury is practically in line with the innersurface of the cone. Any eXcessof mercury passes on up and through thecanvas lO and the openings 9 into the pocket 8.

With mercury in the pockets 2, I feed the gold or other metal bearingore into the cone 43. The propeller 42 keeps the feed in perfect miX andwhile it passes through the cone 43 and out and between the cones l and43, As the ore pulp passes between the two cones, centrifugal actionforces the heavier particles of gold, platinum and the like into themercury `and they are either amalgamated and held or, if notamalgamated, they are embedded in the quick in the pockets. The ore pulppasses on and out and is discharged into the launder 55 and through thedischarge 56.

In order to obtain the best results on an ore, I may revolve the innercone 43 in either direction.

By the use of pockets 2, as shown, when these kare filled with mercury,I have a smooth surface 'for the ore pulp to pass over. Allabruptriiiles or steps are eliminated vin passing the ore pulp betweenthe cones. Gonl" sequently, there is no counter force of agitation `toovercome the centrifugal action. 'It is evident that all centrifugalaction might be destroyed by agitation produced from sharp riflles orsteps.

In the construction of the inner surface of cone 1, I give the lower enda greater slope because centrifugal action is less than at the top ofthe cone where the diameter is greater.

It is evident that the action of centrifugal forces as here used isperpendicular to the axis of the cone. Therefore, centrifugal force mustovercome gravit and in so doing, cause the ore pulp to ow upward andoutward. f

In order to prevent banking of sand, I purposely use a cone, no part ofwhich is cylindrical. The top of the cone l, as shown, may be one degreeor more from the vertical.

After the machine has been in operation some time and the mercury hasbecome heavy with other metals, I make the cleanup as follows:

The power is shut off, the belt is thrown olf pulley 4l, and the crank34 is operated, causing the rack and pinion to raise the a'rm38,together with the shaft 40 and the ycone 43. TWhen the point of theconev43 is vclear of the cone l, the standard 28 is turned in thebearing 27 and the cone 43 is swung toene side. The plug is removed fromthe opening 7 and the contents, including the heavy metals and amalgam,are swept-out of the pockets 2 and drawn into any suitable container,

I claim:

l. A centrifugal amalgamator, comprising a cone-shaped body, having apluralityiof amalgam pockets, said pockets practically vert-ical inposition; said cone-shaped body having an outlet at bottom, lalargaamalgam trap or pocket at top, inlets to amalgam trap, and inletscovered with a screen, said cone body having an outwardly andcontinuously extending innensurface, an'inner cone in said body, anamalgam pocket at top of, cone cone body and means forrevolving saidinner body', togetherv with inlets, said inlets covered' 1.0 j

cone7 means for revolving cone body substan-v With a screen, meansfor'revolving cone body, tially as described.

substantially 4as described 2. A centrifugal amalgamator, comprisingWitness Amy'na-Ine th's 10th day of' April, i.

an irregulan cone-shaped body, having an 1922. outwardly extending innersurface, a plu` rality of vertically positioned pockets in cone 4 y yHBERT C,

